


by starlight

by nickofhearts



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Infernian!Noct, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-19
Updated: 2017-02-19
Packaged: 2018-09-25 13:51:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9823397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nickofhearts/pseuds/nickofhearts
Summary: Insomnia is attacked the night preceding the treaty signing. Noct gets more than he bargained for when he puts on the Ring of the Lucii.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [dreamingcicadas](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamingcicadas/gifts).



> Inspired by [this](http://www.imgrum.net/media/1337608865508680003_2061939611).

Noct hovered on the edges of the party, uncomfortable with the presence of the Nifs. It was hard to believe that after so many years of warring, his father holding the Wall at the cost of his own health, there would finally be peace, or at least some semblance of it. There was still the matter of his marriage to Luna to work out, but the future was finally looking hopeful, that it could be something other than more decades spent struggling against the overwhelming might of the Empire that grew with each passing day, snapping at Lucis' heels waiting for any weakness to reveal itself.

Noct took a glass of champagne from a passing waiter and watched as the fireworks display lit up the night sky.

-

"Prince _Noctis_ ," someone hailed him. Noct recognized the man as one of the Emperor's retinue, but couldn't place him. "Not enjoying the celebration? Or is it the idea of _peace_ that doesn't strike your fancy?" his words sly insinuations though the man's expression was a mask of obsequiousness.

"And you are?" Noct asked, blunt. He wasn't in the mood for making _nice_ , after already spending a whole day playing the dutiful prince.

"Imperial Chancellor Ardyn Izunia, _at_ your service," Ardyn said, sweeping a grand bow. 

Noct snorted. "I'm sure you are."

Ardyn flashed him a smile, slightly more honest than the expression before. "How refreshing, Prince Noctis, to find one so dismissive of the trappings of their station." He held out a hand. "I _had_ hoped the fetching prince would oblige me in a dance, but it appears your highness is in no mood for frivolities."

Noct glanced over at where Luna was still chatting with her Kingsglaive guard and decided it couldn't hurt—his father might even _approve_ of Noct entertaining one of the Nif dignitaries. "Fine," he said, putting down his glass and taking Ardyn's hand. 

He almost immediately regretted the decision as Ardyn tucked his other hand against the small of Noct's back, the way his thumb stroked over the bumps of Noct's spine as he led Noct onto the floor where a few others had been idly swaying in time to the tempo of the music being played, but they immediately made way for the prince and his partner; Noct heard them tittering behind his back.

"I thought you cared little for the opinions of others," Ardyn murmured into his ear, making Noct shiver even as he glared in annoyance at the offenders. "Or is it only _my_ opinion for which you care naught?"

He didn't want to know they looked like, Ardyn with an arm slid around his waist, Noct following his steps in a dance that vaguely resembled a waltz, but just off enough that Noct had to pay attention to Ardyn's subtle cues not to stumble out of rhythm—his father definitely would _not_ approve of whatever was happening here.

Noct didn't get a chance to answer when there was a sudden commotion on the far side of the pavilion, something like an explosion that rocked the entire rooftop. He found himself being held close to Ardyn, who was shielding him as if by some kind of instinct. Noct gave the Chancellor a look of confusion before disentangling himself from the embrace so he could run towards the crackle of thunder, the clanging sounds of swords clashing already ringing in the air.

Ardyn let him go.

-

Noct held his father in his arms, blinking back tears. " _Dad_ ," Noct pleaded, but Regis was beyond hearing.

There wasn't time for deliberation or grief, that could all come later when they figured out exactly what had happened, picking up the pieces of what had been left to them. Noct took the ring off his father's finger and slid it unhesitatingly onto his own, filled with rage beyond reckoning.

 _"Help me,"_ Noct commanded it, _willing_ its obedience to him.

He felt something stirring under his feet as the ring answered, the ground itself shaking as the statues of the old Lucian kings came suddenly to life, stepping out of archways and off tall pedastals to join in the fray. 

There was pandemonium on the roof and in the streets below, people screaming and running, daemons blotting out the light of the moon in the sky. So much for a _peace_ treaty, Noct thought.

He warped onto the shoulder of a passing statue and let it take him to the worst of the affected area where—was that _Ifrit_ burning whole swathes through the streets? swinging a sword taller than the majority of the buildings in his vicinity—the Nifs even had an _Astral_ doing their bidding?

Noct warped to the balcony of a nearby building as he watched the living statues converge on Ifrit, three of them moving in to attack at once. 

He clutched at the ring on his hand, feeling the blows as if they were his own, his consciousness one with the remnants of the old Kings that had been left behind to protect the city of their legacy. The ring was like a band of fire on his finger, drawing Noct's life force to fuel itself, the same as it had done to his father, aging Regis far before his time. That was fine, Noct was young, he had more to give. 

Noct _pushed_ as much as he could into the ring, wanting bloody destruction, wanting to see Ifrit fall before him.

The final blow landed like a thunderclap, Ifrit screaming out his defiance even as the sword twisted beneath Noct's hands, Noct and the spirit of the old King as one as they put an end to the threat of his destruction.

Except then Noct felt a power that wasn't the ring against his fingers, fire that engulfed his hands and then _flooded_ into him, so much of it burning in his blood. It felt like he was dying but so much worse—there was no _end_ to it, no relief or respite. Noct watched the world being born, events from thousands of years ago flashing before his eyes, the war of the Astrals projected directly into his mind.

When he opened his eyes again to the present, General _Glauca_ was running at him, sword outstretched.

Noct didn't think—he reached out a hand and there was fire, hot enough that it burned the air before it even touched Glauca, melting magitek armour and then flesh, bubbling masses of it sloughing off bone like there wasn't anything easier.

The Kingsglaive that had been chasing him down gave Noct a look of horror, stopping suddenly like he was afraid to get any closer, and Noct realized abruptly that he couldn't control it, he couldn't stop the fire, he didn't _want_ to. He felt all of Ifrit's anger rage inside him as if it were his own, telling him to burn everything to ash, the whole _world_ nothing more than fuel for the greatest fire that ever would be.

Noct turned and ran, before the urge overwhelmed him.

-

He didn't stop until there was nothing but emptiness all around him, a blank expanse of snow and ice. Noct didn't know where he was, but that mattered little. The important thing was that he was _alone_ , that there wasn't anyone to get caught in the flames that still licked over his skin, ribbons of it twisting over his arms like they had a mind of their own.

Noct tried to push them back down, press them under his skin where they belonged, but he couldn't.

Even with so much cold around him, there was an endless heat _inside_ him, anger and hatred that wasn't even his own, _millenia_ of it that made him want to lash out at anything and everything that dared defy him.

-

" _Poor_ Prince Noctis," Ardyn said, picking his way over the icy tundra as he made his way to Noct. "Bit off more than you could swallow?"

Noct snarled, temper flaring, and the snow around him started melting in an expanding ring, licks of bright flame spreading from his feet. He didn't know how Ardyn had found him, but that wasn't important. Ardyn was a _Nif_ and it was the Nifs that had done this to him.

Ardyn held up a hand, though he stood his ground, unaffected or unafraid of the threat of Noct's fire. "I know how to make you human again, _Your Highness_."

" _How_ ," Noct demanded, burning tracks on the frozen ground as he grabbed Ardyn by the lapels of his ridiculous coat, the fabric blackening in a widening circle where Noct's fingers had curled into them.

"One Astral's power isn't enough, but there _are_ six of them, are there not?" Ardyn's expression was a mask of pleasantness, and Noct didn't care. He wanted no part of this, the memories and the anger and the darkness that raged inside him even now; he'd do whatever was necessary to get it all out of him.

"Where do we _start_ ," Noct growled out with grim determination.

**Author's Note:**

> There probably won't be any more of this? But just know that Luna doesn't die this this time, she gets to watch Noct lose the remaining shreds of his humanity as he and Ardyn take out the rest of the gods. 
> 
> And when they're finally done, the broken shards of the Crystal crunching under Noct's feet, when Noct's about to murder Ardyn dead for fucking _lying to him_ about becoming human again, he realizes that's exactly what Ardyn wants, what Ardyn's been aiming for this whole entire time. Noct won't give him that _satisfaction,_ and they hatesex ever after.


End file.
